better known as Wellington.

Thanks to the goat-herds, the lads were well provisioned for a day; but
at the same time, and again thanks to their hosts of the past night,
they were sadly crippled for their task.

It was not long before they began to feel how badly they were equipped,
for the principal production of the part of the country they traversed
seemed to be stones, from the smallest sharp-cornered pebble up to huge
blocks half the size of a house. But for hours they trudged on
sturdily, chatting cheerfully at first, then growing silent, and then
making remarks which were started by Punch.

"Say, comrade," he said, "is Spain what they call a civilised country?"

"Yes, and one of the most famous in Europe; at least, it used to be."

"Ah, used to be!" said Punch sharply. "Used. 'Tain't now. I don't
call a place civilised where they have got roads like this."

"Yes, it is rough," said Pen.

"Rough! Rough ain't the word for it," grumbled Punch. "If we go on
much farther like this I shall wear my feet to the bone. Ain't it time
we sat down and had a bit of dinner?"

"No," replied Pen. "We will sit down and rest if you like, but we must
try and husband our provisions so as to make them last over till
to-morrow night."

"What's to-morrow night got to do with it? We ought to be along with
the British army by to-night; and what's husbands got to do with it? We
are not going to share our prog with anybody else, and if it's husbands,
how do we know they won't bring their wives? Bother! You will be
telling me they are going to bring all their kids next."

"Is that meant for a joke, Punch? Let's go a little farther first.
Come along, step out."

"Step out indeed!" grumbled the boy. "I stepped out first thing--right
out of my boots. I say, comrade, oughtn't the soles of our feet to
begin to get hard by now?"

"Don't talk about it, Punch."

"Oh, you can feel it too? If it's like this now, what's it going to be
by to-night? I did not know that it was going to be so bad. If I had,
blest if that goat-stalker should have had my boots! I'd have kept
them, and shared them--one apiece--and every now and then we could have
changed foots. It would have been better then, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know, Punch. Don't think about it. Let's go on till we get to
the first spring, and then rest and bathe our feet."

"All right."

The boys kept on their painful walk for another hour; and then, the
spring